Some species in the family Poeciliidae are known for extravagant male ornaments and courtship behavior (e.g., guppies), but the majority of poeciliids are characterized by coercive male copulation attempts that seem to circumvent female choice. In some lineages with male ornaments, female sensory bias may have preceded the evolution of corresponding male signals. We examined female preferences for colorful ornaments in Western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, in which males lack ornamentation and reproduce primarily through coercive mating attempts. We found that females exhibited a positional affinity for males that were artificially ornamented with blue coloration over males that had been treated with a transparent ornament. Females exhibited the opposite effect for males treated with red ornaments. In contrast, focal females did not exhibit behavioral discrimination between two live stimulus females or two models (silver fishing lures) with blue vs. transparent ornaments. This suggests a sexual context for female discrimination between males based on ornament color and whether an ornament was present. Because tribe Gambusiini is the basal branch of family Poeciliidae, the results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that female responsiveness to male coloration is the ancestral poeciliid character state.
The work was performed in the Gene Pool LLC of the Moscow Region. The goal was to create meat quail adapted to the feeding and keeping conditions traditional for Russia. The initial genetic material was the pharaoh and Texas white breeds, which are stored in the bioresource farm collection. As a result of reproductive crosses of birds of these breeds, individuals with almost white plumage color and satisfactory productive indicators were isolated. To increase the efficiency of poultry breeding during the selection of quail of this group, complex polygenic constructions of quantitative characters were used, linking them with the adaptive ability of the bird at the stages of growth, development and productivity. This allowed to improve the meat form of physique for 11 generations of selection, increase the live weight of quail at the slaughter age by 26.1%, increase the yield of quail from the laying hen by 8.3%. Comparative tests showed that the cost of production from the created poultry was lower than that of the original breeds: Pharaoh by 32.9%; Texas White - 12.0%. The breed was called Radonezh (patent No. 6999), the bird is recommended for breeding in industrial, farming and individual subsidiary farms of the population.
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